A fun little game, unfortunatally did not have a friend to enjoy it with, but extra thanks for adding an AI option instead :)
I think the game lacks a bit of multiplayer connectivity. Its really nice that you can interact with the other player by kicking them, but since they are both the same speed its impossible to catch one of them. Slowing down the player with weight usually feels borning and too punishing, but what I could imagine being fun is to rather give the player the option be faster - a sprint. A sprint with a stamina that would recharge slower with more people collected could give the players an option to strategize and manage the stamina. You could also let the player release one to be faster or to stay still with less people to regain stamina faster. All of this could give the player more options and agency, rather than just to focus on their own thing while playing a multiplayer game, and adding a stamina and a sprint is quite cheap for development too :)
Other than that, instead of having a large map with people spawning everywhere, if you could reuse the benches to have some better spawn points, it could lead to players prioritizing these “resource” spots and fight over them too, leading to more interactivity. Could also be cheap as you could reuse your spawning code for smaller area, and the benches that you already have in the game. This also reinforces the idea of the “mushroom hunt” - mushrooms tend to grow closer together at some spots :)
Other than that, I think its a really interesting and unique idea to flip over the mushroom hunt. Really good job on finishing :) (also, nice butts)